Thursday, March 3, 2011

Joy In Teaching

This year has had it’s ups and downs. Being a first year teacher and raising support has certainly kept me busy, and at times overwhelmed. I’ve had times where I love work and times when I don’t know how I’ll be able to continue on. Well the past few weeks I have been loving work. The behavior plan I have in place finally seems to be working, my kids seem happy, I’m happy. All of the routines are set and I am so blessed that my kiddos really get along, for the most part. Believe me, things aren’t perfect. There are moments when I want to pull out my hair, but most of the day I laugh along with my students.

Today one of the boys in my class was being teased because he is in chorus. He was explaining to the class that his mom was forcing him to do it. I said, “You know I’m sure Kanye West, Diddy, and Justin Timberlake were all in chorus.” Who knows if they really were, but my kids couldn’t believe that I knew who any of those people were. All morning they kept asking me, “Do you know who so and so is?” Every time I said, “oh yeah! I love them!” They just thought it was the craziest thing and would bust out laughing. One day I made a comment about wearing skinny jeans and they all shouted, “YOU have skinny jeans!?” I love that they think I am totally out of it and must live under a rock.

The other day I mentioned that it was World Math Day. Well today was World Spelling Day. My kids would yell out the countries they were competing against and I would write them on the board. One of the kids yelled out Uganda and I shouted, “oh YAY!” They all wanted to know why I cared so much about Uganda when I hadn’t responded the same way for the other countries. I just laughed and said I was hoping to go there one day J

Thank you for praying for me. Jesus has been gracious in granting our requests that I’ll find joy in teaching and find a balance in my work. I do think I have found a balance for the most part and I am SO thankful for the class I have and the job God has given me to do at this time in my life.  Please pray that I’ll continue to have joy at school and in raising support. 

4 comments:

Allison said...

Skinny Jeans? Diddy, JT, Kanye, TI, Jay-Z? Do you know who these people are? I love it.
And I can see you getting excited about Uganda with those kiddos.
Lets skype this weekend, K?

kelly said...

oh man, we saw a waitress from our favorite breakfast place at Tijauna Flats and I said hi to her....and I said, "this feels like seeing your teacher outside of class!!" teachers can't have lives!!! :)

Travis and Amy said...

I used to tell my students that I lived in the classroom and that I slept at my desk. So, they had better clean up my bedroom.
We have spotted skinny jeans in Uganda. Of course, not in Bundibugyo, but in the country, nonetheless.
Glad that you are hitting your stride in teaching. We look forward to seeing you here!

Travis and Amy said...

I used to tell my students that I lived in the classroom and that I slept at my desk. So, they had better clean up my bedroom.
We have spotted skinny jeans in Uganda. Of course, not in Bundibugyo, but in the country, nonetheless.
Glad that you are hitting your stride in teaching. We look forward to seeing you here!